


Planet of the Whales

by Athaia



Category: Planet of the Apes (TV)
Genre: AU, All Apes Are Whales, Crack, Gen, Hence the title, It was a prompt I had no choice, Or Dolphins, obviously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 00:24:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18560164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Athaia/pseuds/Athaia
Summary: When two astronauts crashland on a future Earth, they are dismayed to discover that their home has been taken over by intelligent cetaceans...





	Planet of the Whales

"You know," Burke muttered as he stared at the horizon, "I still can't believe that this is supposed to be the Appalachians."  
  
Virdon didn't answer as he scanned the water. Below them, ocean waves were crashing against the cliffs - cliffs that had, an undetermined time ago, been mountain slopes. Their valleys, and Georgia's whole coastal plain, were submerged under those waves. He had tried to calculate if the melting of the pole caps would've been sufficient to raise the sea levels this far, or if, as Burke had suggested, a meteor consisting mainly of frozen water had added the missing trillions of gallons, but nobody remembered such an event, which probably meant it hadn't happened. But then the descendants of the surviving humans had fallen far from their former technological and cultural level.  
  
And with the new masters of this world, it would probably stay that way. Dry land was scarce now, from what the humans of the... the Appalachian Islands... had told him. Not that they'd been able to verify those claims for themselves. The new rulers were jealously guarding the shores. No human could poke as much as a toe into the ocean. Fishing was a cultural skill that had been lost eons ago.  
  
"Is Flipper going to turn up anytime soon or no?" Burke growled. "I'm getting tired of watching the water."  
  
"His name is Galen," Virdon said absently, scanning the waves. "And you should be a bit more appreciative of his cooperation, Pete - at least now we'll have a chance to get to the bottom of this..." he waved his arm to include their surroundings, "... this development."  
  
Burke snorted. "I can tell you what happened - someone let the Navy near their lab equipment, and they fucked up and created a race of Uber-dolphins. No more tuna for any of us. The only bottom that damn fish will show us is the bottom of the damn sea!"  
  
"Dolphins are mammals," Virdon murmured.  
  
"Watch me not giving a damn."  
  
Virdon just began to climb down the cliff - the now familiar face of the one individual who hadn't tried to drown them when they had tried to cross the sea to the next island had emerged from the waters, and was now standing upright among the waves in the familiar dolphin stance that still evoked memories of past trips to Sea World.  
  
"Flipper's planet," Virdon heard Burke mutter as his friend follwed him down the cliff. "A fucking abomination, that's what it is."  
  
"Hurry up," Galen greeted them without preamble. "If Urko gets a whiff of this, we're all food for the sharks."  
  
Virdon nodded and eased himself into the water; they had found one of the few places where the current wouldn't throw them against the rocks. Still, if Urko the Orca found them, they'd probably wish they'd died in the surf...  
  
They had to swim all the way to the rock formation that jutted out of the sea like the spine of a long-dead whale, and when they finally reached the half-submerged cave Galen had told them about, both men were utterly exhausted. With the sea being off-limits, there had been no opportunity for training.  
  
"And the recording is still intact?" Virdon asked.  
  
"It should be," Galen said. "The room is still sealed, so no water was able to corrode the machine."  
  
"Yeah, but without a power source..." Burke gasped, crawling onto the rocky shore.  
  
"Whoever took pains to deposit a message for their descendends on a mountain top would've thought of that, too," Virdon said. It was just a desperate hope, but what else could he do but believe in it?  
  
Galen swum after them in the canal that had been hewn - by the dolphins? Their human servants? - into the rock, right up to the metal door. "It's not locked," Galen said, rising half out of the water, "but our humans were scared of the machine in there, so we resealed it. Zaius banned anyone from even mentioning it; I guess he hopes that it'll be forgotten again, given time. It is so fortunate that you fell from the sky! Now we'll finally find out how my people managed to save this world from the destructiveness of Man."  
  
Burke turned around and glared at him. "Keep sweet-talking us like that, buddy, and we'll close the door behind us before we press 'play'."  
  
Virdon, ignoring their bickering, had already opened said door, and was now standing before a black screen that was almost as tall as him. There was no keyboard or switches anywhere, but as soon as he stepped closer, a green light flashed up in the depths of the screen, wandering over him - scanning him. Then the screen vanished, and Virdon found himself face-to-face with the holographic image of an unknown woman. Probably a scientist, judging by her lab coat.  
  
"If this recording is playing, it means some of us have survived, and are still technologically savy enough to find this," the image of the woman said. "You cannot imagine how relived I am. If you came here, you're probably looking for the answer to mankind's most burning question: how could this have happened?"  
  
"No shit," Burke muttered from behind.  
  
"We've been using dolphins for military and scientific purposes for a long time," the scientist continued, oblivious of Burke's snark, "because dolphins are incredibly intelligent. But at one point, a young... brilliant... scientist, Dr. Will Rodman, decided to use some of them to test a new drug for treating Alzheimer's on them. A genetically altered virus, to be exact."  
  
"Oh, shit," Burke moaned.  
  
"The dolphins, now intelligent far above human measure, immediately escaped into the open sea... and the virus began to spread, infecting and enhancing other sea species, like orcas, octopi... and sharks. Soon, the oceans became impassable, as the dolphins began to attach bombs to our ships and engage in all kinds of other terrorist attacks. Fishing became impossible, leading to wide-spread famines." The scientist vanished, and old news broadcasts showed ships blowing up in their harbors.  
  
"Told you, the Navy fucked up," Burke muttered. Virdon waved at him to be quiet, his eyes riveted to the screen.  
  
"We would've weathered this crisis, too," the voice of the scientist sounded over pictures of planes starting and landing in the biggest airlift of human history, "but then the virus mutated, and the pandemic erased about ninety-five percent of mankind in less than eight months. Our civilization collapsed."  
  
"And those buggers don't even have opposable thumbs," Burke muttered, unfazed of Virdon's irritation with him.  
  
"The effects of our former meddling are still unfolding, though... the sea levels are rising, probably to the delight of the enhanced sea species," the scientist concluded. "There is nothing we can do about any of it at this point. The only message we have for you, our descendants, is this: don't alienate the sea people.  
  
"Because this is now a Planet of the Whales."


End file.
